Week in review: Forest boy’ story was a hoax

Follow the link to see our roundup of the top national and international news stories of the week.

Wicked Local

Writer

Posted Jun. 16, 2012 at 12:01 AM
Updated Jun 16, 2012 at 4:22 PM

Posted Jun. 16, 2012 at 12:01 AM
Updated Jun 16, 2012 at 4:22 PM

» Social News

News of the week

Here are the top news stories from the past week:

- "He received funds from us for seven months that could have gone to other people in need." – Youth services spokesman Ed Koch, talking about the “forest boy,” whose story turned out to be a hoax. The forest boy claimed he lived in the woods of Germany for five years, and wandered into Berlin in the past year. He actually is a runaway from the Netherlands and is 20, not 17, as he claimed.

- The Obama administration announced Friday that it will stop deporting illegal immigrants under the age of 30 who meet several requirements. Republicans immediately criticized the move, calling it amnesty, but Hispanic-Americans praised the move.

- "It's clear and understandable that the message of the KKK is offensive and hurtful to many people, but when you cede the power to the state to decide whose speech is objectionable, we give it up." - Debbie Seagraves of the ACLU of Georgia. The ACLU may take up the case of a Ku Klux Klan chapter in Georgia that had its request to adopt a highway denied this week. "We are considering next steps and whether or not we will support the group," Seagraves also said.

- Egypt is in turmoil again after the country’s high court ruled the four-month-old parliament invalid. There is now much confusion over leadership in the country, which ousted President Hosni Mubarak last year as part of the Arab Spring.

- "The way it was contrived between January to March, it changed into something I cannot publicly defend.” - JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon during a hearing Wednesday before the Senate Banking Committee. Dimon said he didn’t approve the trade but was aware of it, and he doesn’t believe regulators would have caught the trades that cost the company more than $2 billion.

- A homeless man in Texas on Wednesday was officially allowed to keep the $77,000 that he found earlier this year. Timothy Yost stumbled upon a bag of cash and collectible coins on the banks of the Colorado River in January. He went to a bank with the bag, but the teller told him she couldn’t exchange wet money and called police. The money has been in police custody since then.

Page 2 of 2 - - The parents of 9-week-old Azaria Chamberlain were finally cleared of murder Tuesday when an Australian court ruled that a dingo did take the baby. A coroner agreed with the story of Lindy Chamberlain-Creighton and her ex-husband, Michael Chamberlain in a case that was made famous in the 1988 movie “A Cry in the Dark.” Chamberlain-Creighton served three years in prison before her sentence was overturned.

- "At first he would kiss me on the forehead goodnight. Then it was kissing me on the cheek, then rubbing my back and cracking my back." - Victim 1, testifying Tuesday against Jerry Sandusky in his child sex abuse trial. Victim 1 went on to describe sexual activities that he said Sandusky made him do.

- A man who was caught sexually assaulting a 4-year-old girl was killed by the girl’s father, Texas police said. The girl and her father were at the abuser’s house for a social gathering, and at one point, the girl was inside the house with the man and he began sexually assaulting her. The father happened to enter the house and saw the assault, and he repeatedly punched the attacker in the head, killing him. Lavaca County Sheriff Micah Harmon said they aren’t charging the father, as it was “defense of his third person,” but a grand jury could decide to bring charges.

- "Ronald Reagan would have, based on his record of finding accommodation, finding some degree of common ground, as would my dad – they would have a hard time if you define the Republican party – and I don't – as having an orthodoxy that doesn't allow for disagreement, doesn't allow for finding some common ground." – Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, talking about how former President George H.W. Bush and Reagan wouldn’t have fit into today’s Republican Party.

Video of the week: Did you see this?

Matt Cain of the San Francisco Giants hurled a perfect game Wednesday, a pitching performance that’s being called one of the greatest ever.